Piercing The Veil
by Alkuna
Summary: Freefall is back home, and Bast is expecting. With the queen so close to giving birth, why does the tom leave her side and walk though the bitterly cold snow?


The harsh Leaffall weather hit hard in the twoleg place, and Freefall shivered as he slipped out into the shadows of the night. Bast lay in the nest, her belly swollen with kits, and Brett keeping an eye on her. The kits would come any day now, but Freefall had a mission to run that was important to the safety of his family.

The twoleg place had changed, but not so much that he didn't remember the path to his destination. A left, a right, another left, and then to the end of a long alley behind the brightly lit twoleg nest. Here, twolegs tossed their pelts into noisy machines that made gurgling and rumbling noises, spewing out heavily scented air that, nevertheless, was warm even in the darkest Leaffall seasons.

Here, a group of wild cats made their home.

Here lived hard, strong, dangeorus cats.

Here were the cats that Freefall and Bast had made a pact with.

The leader of these cats knew the value of knowledge from distant places. In exchange for freedom to wander freely about the twoleg place, he or Bast were to share the things they learned when they came back from their travels.

Eyes glowed faintly in the shadows. Freefall waited, and soon enough a red she-cat oozed out of the shadows to meet him.

"So you have returned." Her voice was as smooth and silken as honey; a voice that put treacherous Rogues off guard before the blow flicked out and took off an ear. "Have you something useful for us?"

Freefall dipped his head respectfully, "Yes Strike, I have."

"Come then." Obediently following her tail flick, Freefall padded deep into the alleyway, feeling warmth seep into his snow dusted pelt.

The end of the alley was steeped in darkness so deep that he could barely see where his paws were stepping, but it was also the warmest spot, sheltered from the cold. He felt the heavy gaze of the cat who made her nest here, though he could not see her.

"Welcome Freefall." The voice was cool, and ruffled his pelt slightly, though it held no hostility.

Freefall bowed his head and closed his eyes, waiting.

"How is Bast?" This was no idle question, and Freefall knew he would have to bring Bast and the kits here as soon as they were strong enough to travel.

"The kits should arrive any day now." Freefall kept his answers short and to the point, knowing that the cat in the shadows had no patience for idle chatter. "Bast is healthy and strong, though weighted down."

He could have sworn he heard a faint purr of knowing sympathy from the shadows.

"Very well, tell us what you bring from your travels."

Cats crept forward, closing around the tom as he began to describe his travels to a lake, with clans of cats living around it. He told them of Swishkit, and the Rogue Bloodfang. He told them of Riverclan, and the kidnapping of the young Windclan cats. He told them what he could remember of the warrior code, and of Starclan. He told them of the kindness and support the clan cats shared with one another, and their fierce loyalty to their fellow clanmates. He told them of the support and value placed on each life. He told them of his fight with the deadly Rogue and the final blow, struck like a claw from the sky.

By the time his story wound to a close, his head buzzed with memories and his claws worked on the hard ground in memory of his jeering fight with the hateful one-eyed cat.

Silence fell, and even the monsters in the street seemed to have muted their snarls.

Finally, a shadow within shadows stirred, and a she-cat oozed from the darkness. The kittypet was struck anew by her appearance. She was black, so black that her fur seemed to suck the light from world around her, and shadows clung to her sides. There wasn't a mark or blemish in her coat to disturb that darkness, and her eyes were so dark a silver that in the deep shadows they looked like tunnels, with nothing but tiny pinpoints of light far in the distance when the dim light hit them just right.

Nightmare was her name, and she led these hardened cats with the quickness of a striking adder and the ferocity of a Queen defending her kits.

"You have done well Freefall." She meowed at last. "You have given us much to think about, and much to learn. I know nothing of this Starclan of which you speak, but perhaps it is time for us to open our ears to the wisdom of the cats who went before. Tell me, what is required to become a true clan leader?"

Freefall's stomach sank. That had been information given to the ever curious Bast. He had had very little interest in such things, and had left to hunt with Clearlake while Bast had chattered away with Secretweb, the Riverclan warrior she had made friends with.

"You do not know." Nightmare murmured, correctly guessing the problem from his expression.

"No," Freefall admitted with a shake of his head, "But Bast may. She spoke at length to one of the warriors. I can go find the information you seek and bring it back."

Nightmare snorted, "I am the leader of this band of cats through tooth and claw. I earned the right to keep my leadership through cunning and wisdom. If I am too lazy to lead by learning, then I am as dead as the leaves that have fallen from the trees. It's only a matter of time. Take me to Bast, and I will learn what I need to know directly."

Freefall swallowed nervously but knew better than to argue.

"Steel, you're in charge until I return. Don't get ideas!" Her dark silver eyes blazed, "Remember that my ears hear whispers in the darkness and my claws come when they cannot be seen."

A dark gray cat with white paws bowed his head to her.

"Nightmare?" A soft voice mewed out of the darkness, "Do you want me to come with you?"

Freefall suppressed a shiver. The speaker was a fluffy white cat called Quick, and he had a reputation as Nightmare's most loyal and dangerous cat.

Nightmare gave a raspy purr, "Freefall is not the cat to fear, Quick."

Ice blue eyes roved over Freefall for less than a heartbeat before he nodded. "Do you want me to handle any problems?"

"Words are the only prey I ask you to catch tonight. I should return early tomorrow; Freefall does not live _that_ far away. Strike only if there is no other choice. I prefer to handle problems myself."

Quick bowed his head and vanished; a feat Freefall would have thought impossible considering how his sparkling white coat stood out among the dusty gray shadows.

"If I may ask, why allow Steel to lead if you don't trust him? Why not Quick?" Freefall asked when they were far enough away from the alley.

"Steel is ambitious, but also inexperienced. Giving him some responsibility will allow me to test whether he is worthy of it. Quick is a magnificent and loyal cat. No one better to have at your shoulder. He has the respect of many of the cats, but he has no ambition. And it is a waste of time to give him experience when there are cats yearning for the trust and responsibility."

Freefall mulled it over as they slid through the kitty door and into Brett's nest. Nightmare greeted Bast and asked after her condition, nodding sagely when Bast reported that they would soon be born.

He hung back, allowing the two she-cats to murmur to one another, keeping an eye out for Brett, who was quite protective of Bast in her condition, and not likely to be happy at the sight of a strange cat in his nest.

He was starting to doze on his paws when Nightmare nodded and drew away from his mate, murmuring wishes of luck to the pregnant queen. Nightmare was silent and thoughtful as they drew away. It was only back on the cold street that the she cat turned to Freefall, her gaze solemn and penetrating.

"You two have indeed learned much."

Freefall said nothing, knowing that she really didn't expect an answer.

"All that you and Bast have told me... everything that guides those clans… they work?"

The sky was tinting rose, even as clouds foretold another miserably cold day, and Freefall felt weariness tugging at his eyelids. But he knew that he had to set this in poured stone, as it were. Sitting down and turning to watch the sky slowly lighten, he invited the black she cat to sit next to him.

"It seems to. I thought it was all rabbit fluff, until I met Starclan myself. The clans… they competed and stood on opposite sides of a border, challenging and fighting one another." He hesitated, trying to put it into words. "Dawnkit belonged to an enemy clan. Yet Riverclan immediately leaped up to rescue her. That strength, a strength that went beyond fang and claw, seemed to show just how powerful the warrior code was."

The rose color was bleeding out of the sky as fast as cold gray was bleeding in, and the wild cat nodded her dark head. "I will return to my clan now. Go back to your mate. I do not need an escort back to my own nest." A twitch of her whiskers reassured him that she was honored by his silent intent to return her safely to her followers.

Freefall turned back toward the little door that allowed him in and out of Brett's nest when he heard her call his name. He paused and turned to look back at her.

"If all goes well, tell Bast that any of her kits would be welcome to join us when and if they are ready. Tell her…" she paused and then stood tall. Snow sparkled like stars in her dark coat as a shaft of sunlight pierced the veil of clouds, and enveloped the she cat in its warm, strong embrace. "…Tell her Nightclan is born."


End file.
